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Warp Lightning
| rarity = Rare | type = Combat Instant | casting_cost = | research_cost = | effects = Strikes the target unit with a succession of 10 Magical Armor Piercing Damage attacks, starting with a -strength attack and diminishing by with each subsequent attack. }} Warp Lightning is a Rare Combat Instant belonging to the realm. It may only be cast during combat, and must be targeted at an enemy unit. For the spell will strike the target with 10 separate Magical Bolts. The first bolt is a -strength Magical Damage attack. The second bolt has a strength of , the next has , and so on until the last attack delivers . The target makes separate Defense rolls against each attack, but only gets to use half of its Defense. Effects Warp Lightning strikes the target with 10 lightning bolts, with each bolt being slightly weaker than the previous one. In total this attack has a devastatingly-high strength, but the target gets to make Defense rolls against each attack separately, potentially nullifying much of the damage. 10 Magical Attacks When Warp Lightning is cast at an enemy unit during combat, a succession of lightning bolts will rip through it. Starting with a -strength bolt, each subsequent bolt has an attack strength lower by , until the final bolt delivers only . Therefore: * The first attack has a strength of . * The second attack has a strength of . * The third attack has a strength of . * ... * The tenth (and final) attack has a strength of . In total, the Warp Lightning delivers (10+9+8+...+1 = 55). However, this is not the same as making a single attack that delivers , because the target gets to make Defense rolls against each of these ten attacks! Example :A Great Wyrm is targeted by Warp Lightning. It has a Defense score (after halving) of . :The first lightning bolt is an attack with a strength of . On average, it will deliver about 3 hits to the Great Wyrm. The Wyrm then rolls for Defense, blocking on average about 1.8 hits. It will suffer about from this attack, on average. :The second lightning bolt is an attack with a strength of . On average, it will deliver about 2.7 hits to the Great Wyrm. The Wyrm then rolls for Defense, blocking on average about 1.8 hits. It will suffer about from this attack, on average. :This goes on until, (by about the 5th lightning bolt), the Wyrm's Defense score is equal to the strength of the bolt ( vs. ). At this point the spell would have to make more hits than average (or the Wyrm has to block fewer hits than average) for any damage to occur. :The subsequent attacks have less and less chance of causing any damage to the Wyrm - though this still may happen on particularly abnormal To Hit or Defense rolls. :Had the spell delivered a single, -strength attack on the Wyrm, it would register about 16.5 hits on average, with the Wyrm blocking only about 1.8 on average - meaning an average damage of ! :However, as explained above, due to the Warp Lightning being split into 10 separate attacks, the Great Wyrm will suffer only about in total because it gets to make a Defense roll against each of these attacks. Usage Warp Lightning may only be cast during combat, for a basic Casting Cost of . It must be targeted at an enemy unit. Warp Lightning is shown on screen as three squiggly red lines dancing over the target unit. Damage is dealt immediately when the animation is completed, causing any killed-off from the target unit will disappear. Acquisition As a Rare spell, Warp Lightning may become available to any Wizard who possesses at least Spellbooks. However, its availability during the game is not guaranteed unless the Wizard acquires at least Spellbooks. Customized Wizards possessing Spellbooks at creation time may choose this spell as one of their default spells before starting the game, in which case the spell will already be researched and available for casting immediately on the first turn. Wizards with to Spellbooks have a random chance of being able to Research Warp Lightning during the game. The chance for this spell to appear for research increases with the number of Spellbooks the Wizard possesses or obtains during gameplay. With or Spellbooks, the spell is guaranteed to appear for Research at some point, if it is not already available for casting. Warp Lightning has a base Research Cost of . With at least Spellbooks, the Warp Lightning spell may be acquired as a reward for winning encounters in creature Lairs, Towers, et cetera, or when conquering the Fortress of a rival wizard who has already researched this spell. Strategy Among the many direct-damage Combat Instants in the , Warp Lightning is one of the most cost-effective. Its total damage output can be very high for only , where other spells with the same Casting Cost would deliver much less. However, due to its damage being split between 10 separate attacks, Warp Lightning is much more effective against units with low Defense scores than units with high Defense scores, because each attack triggers a new defense roll. It can easily obliterate a low- or mid-tier unit, but will do little against a heavily-armored Hero or Fantastic Creature. Note also that are slightly less vulnerable to this spell than . By far, the most effective spells to employ against multi-figure units are splash damage dealers like Fireball and Immolation. Against a target with , Warp Lightning, a maximized Lightning Bolt, and Doom Bolt all have roughly the same efficiency (mana spent per damage point dealt). Lightning Bolt is a much easier spell to acquire, has an adjustable strength, and somewhat less variance. Doom Bolt is somewhat more expensive to research and cast, and has no variance at all. * Gets adjusted by distance from Fortress. This will not change the spells' strengths relative to one another. Category:Combat Instants Category:Chaos